Google Pixel Buds A Series Sound Chamber Mesh Removal Repair Guide

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

6

Time Required

                          15 minutes            

Sections

1

• Sound Chamber Mesh
• 6 steps

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Introduction

This mesh can become damaged or clogged with oils and other substances, which can greatly reduce the maximum volume of the buds or create noise and inconsistent audio output due to becoming loose.

Note that Google advises you to not get liquids (other than small amounts of water) on the ear buds, but in my case, ear drops containing alcohol got on the ear buds and caused damage to the mesh.

If the mesh is clogged by oils, there’s no way to clean it, as oils won’t dissolve in water and using other solvents like alcohol will dissolve the glue holding the mesh. So the only practical approach is to completely remove the mesh.

This guide shows how to remove this protective mesh and restore sound quality. This isn’t a complete repair, as there’s no practical way to replace the original mesh, but at least this makes the otherwise pretty much unrepairable device usable again.

What you need

Step 1

              Getting started               

• Open the Google Pixel Buds Charging / Carrier case to locate the Buds.
• Remove the rubber tips.
• If necessary, clean the ear buds, especially the openings, contacts and sensors with damp cotton swabs.

Open the Google Pixel Buds Charging / Carrier case to locate the Buds.

Remove the rubber tips.

If necessary, clean the ear buds, especially the openings, contacts and sensors with damp cotton swabs.

1024

Step 2

              Overview               

• Components of the ear buds:
• Microphone
• Vent
• Charging contacts
• IR sensor for detecting when the bud is in the ear
• Touch sensor
• Sound chamber opening with mesh, our point of interest

Components of the ear buds:

Microphone

Vent

Charging contacts

IR sensor for detecting when the bud is in the ear

Touch sensor

Sound chamber opening with mesh, our point of interest

Step 3

• Take a small container, fill it with isopropyl alcohol and insert the buds so that the sound chamber opening - but not any other parts - touch the liquid.
• Soaking time might vary depending on how degraded the glue already is. This can potentially take hours.
• If longer soaking is necessary, I really recommend adding some glycerol to the alcohol solution to soften the glue and prevent rapid evaporation of the solvent.

Take a small container, fill it with isopropyl alcohol and insert the buds so that the sound chamber opening - but not any other parts - touch the liquid.

Soaking time might vary depending on how degraded the glue already is. This can potentially take hours.

If longer soaking is necessary, I really recommend adding some glycerol to the alcohol solution to soften the glue and prevent rapid evaporation of the solvent.

Step 4

• The mesh we’re going to remove. The mesh sits in a small groove in the plastic case and is held in by gooey black glue.
• Groove (after mesh removal)
• This is the metal grid of the more expensive Pixel Buds 2 model (for comparison).

The mesh we’re going to remove. The mesh sits in a small groove in the plastic case and is held in by gooey black glue.

Groove (after mesh removal)

This is the metal grid of the more expensive Pixel Buds 2 model (for comparison).

Step 5

• Take a soft brush (like a toothbrush or a small artists brush) and carefully try to push in the mesh.
• Don’t use excessive force and don’t use sharp/pointy tools like tweezers.
• You neither want to create a hole in the mesh nor want to cause damage to the speaker membrane further inside.
• If the mesh doesn’t easily move, keep soaking it in solvent. Be very careful and don’t apply force.

Take a soft brush (like a toothbrush or a small artists brush) and carefully try to push in the mesh.

Don’t use excessive force and don’t use sharp/pointy tools like tweezers.

You neither want to create a hole in the mesh nor want to cause damage to the speaker membrane further inside.

If the mesh doesn’t easily move, keep soaking it in solvent. Be very careful and don’t apply force.

Step 6

• Carefully use fine tweezers to grab the loose mesh and pull it outside.
• The mesh is likely still stuck to one side of the ridge (assuming you pushed carefully), so it should be easy to retrieve. If not, locate it in the sound chamber and carefully remove it.
• Make sure to not touch or damage the speaker membrane further in the back. Only use a small, soft brush if the mesh is stuck on the back side of the sound chamber.
• Most of the glue should have come out together with the mesh. If necessary, carefully remove any remaining residue with the tweezers or a soft brush.
• Here’s some of the sticky black glue.

Carefully use fine tweezers to grab the loose mesh and pull it outside.

The mesh is likely still stuck to one side of the ridge (assuming you pushed carefully), so it should be easy to retrieve. If not, locate it in the sound chamber and carefully remove it.

Make sure to not touch or damage the speaker membrane further in the back. Only use a small, soft brush if the mesh is stuck on the back side of the sound chamber.

Most of the glue should have come out together with the mesh. If necessary, carefully remove any remaining residue with the tweezers or a soft brush.

Here’s some of the sticky black glue.

Reassemble the rubber tips and test the ear buds. Hopefully, the problem should be gone.

The removed mesh could cause increased ingress of dirt and liquids in the future. You could try to create a new cover made out of fine brass mesh for example, but the removed cover mesh also allows you to carefully clean the inside, so this isn’t a big deal.

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                    Jonathan Haas                     

Member since: 03/09/2018

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Kyle Lessoway - Jul 25, 2022

Reply

I was having problems with the loudness of the pixel buds 2a. I thought my hearing was deteriorating. I had to have them set to around 80-90% volume on my pixel 6. I was thinking of getting new headphones anyways so I’m okay ruining the buds. I took the mesh out, now they sound like the same volume but the volume phone is set to only 20%. Feels like I have new head phones. Thanks for the guide!

Jonathan Haas - Jul 28, 2022

Happy to help. Also had a low volume problem at first and it took some trial and error to figure out what was wrong.